Everything Between Us

Houston was streaked with fading shades of pink and burnt orange, and the hum of cicadas filled the background. Gilia tightened her gr

aby," she called soft

eyes darted out the window, watching as neighborhoods blurred past. This wasn't the Houston she'd seen on TV. No skyscrape

ed. "Okay,

sat on the corner a cozy brick one-story with white shutters and a tired-look

ce to the window.

Between finalizing the bank transfer, packing up their tiny Dallas apartment, and

hitting the cool concrete. She twirled once

iet here,"

ed out. "No more yelling neighbors. No more broken e

d the back of the house just as the

all frame silhouetted against the fading sky. He looked to be in his late thirties, rugged in a w

t came with knowing you could get away with it. He wore a plain white T-shirt, jeans that hung low on h

offered a polite wave

s voice was deep, edged

," Gilia

movin

s lik

le. "Well, welcome to the neighborhood.

Ava as she came bounding back around the sid

Gilia. And this i

o meet

house. "If you need anything - tools, or someone to curse ou

asing from her shoulders. "G

few of the heavier boxes. Ava, curious and restless, hung around Jordan like a shadow, though she ba

a while, motioning to the sk

d. "I... I

mirked.

ange, quiet girl from Dalla

rly mornings and long hours, but the steady paycheck was worth it. Their home filled with new routines - dinn

r, full of sports on TV, greasy takeout containers, and occasional bursts of cursing at

while he shot hoops at the cracked driveway court. He teased her about her obsession with

each other to tell scarier stories. Ava was too young to fully understand the way Jord

rlit Houston nights - something el

of them coul